CHENG, Guijuan
Assistant Professor
PhD (Peking University)
BS (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)
Professor. Guijuan Cheng received her Bachelor degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2010. She earned a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Peking University in 2015, carrying out mechanistic studies on organic reactions with combined computational and mass spectrometry method. She then worked at Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung as a Postdoctoral Fellow, where she carried out mechanistic studies on enzymatic and organic reactions. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Arieh Warshel Institute of Computational Biology, School of MEDICINE, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Her research interests mainly include the mechanistic studies of enzymatic reactions and chemical reactions by using combined computational and experimental methods, mechanism-based drug design and biosynthesis method development.
Professor Cheng has published more than 30 high-quality SCI papers (21 first or corresponding author papers), including a series of scientific research results reported in world-class journals such as Nature, JACS, and Angew (> 1600 total citation, h-index 20).
01. Zhou, Y.; Ni, J.; Lyu, Z.; Li, Y.; Wang, T.; Cheng, G.-J.*, Mechanism and Reaction Channels of Iron-catalyzed Primary Amination of Alkenes by Hydroxylamine Reagents. ACS Catal. 2023, doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.2c06046.
02. Zhou, H.; Zhou, Y.; Bae, H.; Leutzsch, M.; Li, Y.; De, C.; Cheng, G.-J.* (co-corresponding author) and List B.* Organocatalytic stereoselective cyanosilylation of small ketones. Nature, 2022, 605, 84–89.
03. Chen, G.; Zhou, R.; Zhang, X.; Xiao, X.; Kramer, S.; Cheng, G.-J.*; Lian, Z.*, Carbonylative Cross-Electrophile Coupling between Aryl Bromides and Aryl Triflates Enabled by Palladium and Rhodium Cooperative Catalysis and CO as Reductant. ACS Catal. 2022, 12, 14582-14591.
04. Zhou M, Wang T, Cheng, G.-J.*, Mechanistic insights into reductive deamination with hydrosilanes catalyzed by B(C6F5)3: A DFT study. Front Chem. 2022, 10: 1025135.
05. Zhao, R.; Zhang, B.-B., Liu, Z., Cheng, G.-J.*, and Wang Z.-X.* DFT Mechanistic Insights into Aldehyde Deformylations with Biomimetic Metal–Dioxygen Complexes: Distinct Mechanisms and Reaction Rules. JACS Au. 2022, 2, 3, 745–761.
06. Long, J. #; Xia, S. #; Wang, T.; Cheng, G.-J.*; Fang, X.*, Nickel-Catalyzed Regiodivergent Cyanation of Allylic Alcohols: Scope, Mechanism, and Application to the Synthesis of 1,n-Dinitriles. ACS Catal. 2021, 11, 13880-13890.
07. Sun, F.#; Wang, T.#; Cheng, G.-J.*; Fang, X.* Enantioselective Nickel-Catalyzed Hydrocyanative Desymmetrization of Norbornene Derivatives. ACS Catal. 2021, 11, 7578.
08. Sun, F.#; Yang, C.#; Ni, J., Cheng, G.-J.*; Fang, X.* Ligand-Controlled Regiodivergent Nickel-Catalyzed Hydrocyanation of Silyl-Substituted 1,3-Diynes. Org. Lett. 2021, 23, 4045.
09. Wang, T.; Zhou, Y.; Xu, Y.; Cheng, G.-J.,* Computational Exploration of Copper-Catalyzed Vinylogous Aerobic Oxidation of α,β- and β,γ-Unsaturated Compounds. Sci. Rep. 2021, 11, 1304.
10. Gao, J.#; Jiao, M.#; Ni, J.#; Yu, R.; Cheng, G.-J.*; Fang, X.* Diastereomeric Ligand-Controlled Regiodivergent Ni-Catalyzed Migratory Hydrocyanation of Internal Alkenes. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60,1883. (*co-corresponding author)
11. Gao, J.#; Ni, J.#; Yu, R.; Cheng, G.-J.*; Fang, X.* Ni-Catalyzed Isomerization/Hydrocyanation Tandem Reactions: A Lewis Acid-Free Access to Linear Nitriles from Aliphatic Internal Olefins. Org. Lett. 2021, 23, 486.
12. Li, X.-T.; Lv, L.; Wang, T.; Gu, Q.-S. Xu, G.-X.; Li, Z.-L.; Ye, L.; Zhang, X.-H.; Cheng, G.-J.;* Liu, X.-Y.* Diastereo- and enantioselective catalytic radical oxysulfonylation of alkenes in β,γ-unsaturated ketoximes. Chem, 2020, 6, 1692-1706. (*co-corresponding author)
13. Xiong, B.#; Wang, T.#; Sun, H.; Li, Y.; Kramer, S.; Cheng, G.-J.*; and Lian Z.,* Nickel-Catalyzed Reductive Cross-Coupling Reactions for the Synthesis of gem-Difluorovinyl Arenes. ACS Catal. 2020. 10, 13616−13623. (co-corresponding author)
14. Sun, F.#; Ni, J.#; Cheng, G.-J.*; Fang, X.* Highly regio- and stereoselective Ni-catalyzed hydrocyanation of 1,3-Enynes. Chem. Eur. J. 2020, 26, 5956. (co-corresponding author)
15. Wang, L.#; Wang, T.#; Cheng, G.-J.; Li, X.; Wei, J.-J.; Guo, B.; Zheng, C.; Chen, G.; Ran, C.; Zheng, C., Direct C–H Arylation of Aldehydes by Merging Photocatalyzed Hydrogen Atom Transfer with Palladium Catalysis. ACS Catal. 2020, 7543-7551.
16. Deng, Y.; Zhao, C.; Zhou, Y.; Wang, H.; Li, X.; Cheng, G.-J.; Fu, J., Directing-group-based Strategy Enabling Intermolecular Heck-type Reaction of Cycloketone Oxime Esters and Unactivated Alkenes. Org. Lett. 2020, 2, 3524-3530.
17. Yang, C.; Li, P.; Ding, X.; Sui, C.; Rao, S.; Hsu, C.-H.; Leung, W.-P.; Cheng, G.-J.; Wang, P.; Zhu, B.; Mechanism for the Reactivation of the Peroxidase Activity of Human Cyclooxygenases: Investigation Using Phenol as a Reducing Cosubstrate. Sci. Rep. 2020, 10, 15187.
18. Yu, H.-J.; Zhao, W.; Zhou, Y.; Cheng, G.-J.; Sun, M.; Wang, L.; Yu, L.; Liang, S. H.; Ran, C., Salen-based bifunctional chemosensor for copper (II) ions: Inhibition of copper-induced amyloid-β aggregation. Analytica Chimica Acta, 2020, 8, 144.
19. Cheng, G.-J.*; Zhong, X.-M.; Wu, Y.-D.*; Zhang, X.*, Mechanistic understanding of catalysis by combining mass spectrometry and computation. Chem. Comm. 2019, 55, 12749. (First and co-corresponding author)
20. Chen, Z.; Tang, J.-H.; Chen, W.; Xu, Y.; Wang, H.; Zhang, Z.; Sepehrpour, H.; Cheng, G.-J.; Li, X.; Wang, P.; Sun, Y.; Stang, P. J. Temperature and Mechanical Force Responsive Self-Assembled Rhomboidal Metallacycle, Organometallics 2019, 38, 21, 4244.
21. Ma, X.; Mai, S.; Zhou, Y.; Cheng, G.-J.; Song, Q. Dual Role of Ethyl Bromodifluoroacetate in the Formation of Fluorine-containing Heteroaromatic Compounds. Chem. Commun. 2018, 54, 8960.
22. Cheng, G.-J.; Drosos, N.; Morandi, B.;Thiel, W. Computational Study of B(C6F5)3-Catalyzed Selective Deoxygenation of 1,2-Diols. ACS Catal. 2018, 8, 1697.
23. Escorcia, A. M..; Rijn, J. F. M.; Cheng, G.-J.; Thiel, W. Insight into the Promiscuity of Taxadiene Synthase: A Molecular Dynamic Study. J. Comp. Chem. 2018, 39,1215.
24. Drosos, N.; Cheng, G.-J.; Ozkal, E.; Cacherat, B.; Thiel, W.; Morandi, B. Catalytic Reductive Pinacol-Type Rearrangement of Unactivated 1,2-diols through a Concerted, Stereoinvertive Mechanism. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 13377.
25. Rummelt, S.; Cheng, G.-J.; Gupta, P.; Thiel, W.; Fürstner, A. Hydroxyl-Directed Ruthenium Catalyzed Alkene/Alkyne Coupling: Increased Scope, Stereochemical Implications and Mechanistic Rationale. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 3599.
26. Xie, Y.; Cheng, G.-J.; Lee, S.; Thiel, W.; List, B. Catalytic Asymmetric Vinylogous Prins Cyclization: A Highly Diastereo- and Enantioselective Entry to Tetrahydrofurans. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 14538.
27. Jia, J.#; Cheng, G.-J.#; Wu, A.; Luan, S. Novel Imprinted Polyethyleneimine Nano-fluorescent Probes with Controllable Selectivity for Recognizing and Adsorbing Metal Ions RSC Advances 2017, 7, 36048. (#co-first author)
28. Zhong, X.-M. #; Cheng, G.-J. #; P.; Chen, P.; Zhang, X.; Yu, Wu, Y.-D. Mechanistic Study on Pd/Mono-N-protected Amino Acid Catalyzed Vinyl–Vinyl Coupling Reactions: Reactivity and E/Z Selectivity. Org. Lett. 2016, 18, 5240. (#co-first author)
29. Cheng, G.-J.; P.; Chen, P.; Sun, T.-Y.; Zhang, X.; Yu, J.-Q.; Wu, Y.-D. A Combined IM-MS/DFT Study on Pd(MPAA)-Catalyzed Enantioselective C−H Activation: Relay of Chirality through a Rigid Framework. Chem.–Eur. J. 2015, 21, 11180.
30. Cheng, G.-J.; Zhang, X.; Chung, L. W.; Xu, L.; Wu, Y.-D. Computational Organic Chemistry: Bridging Theory and Experiment by Mechanistic Understanding of Chemical Reactions. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 1706.
31. Zhou, F.; Cheng, G.-J.#; Yang, W.; Long, Y.; Zhang, S.; Wu, Y.-D.; Zhang, X.; Cai, Q. Enantioselective Formation of Cyano-Bearing All-Carbon Quaternary Stereocenters: Desymmetrization by Copper-Catalyzed N-Arylation. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 9555. (co-first author)
32. Cheng, G.-J.; Yang, Y.-F.; Liu, P.; Chen, P.; Sun, T.-Y.; Li, G.; Zhang, X.; Houk, K. N.; Yu, J.-Q.; Wu, Y.-D. Role of N-Acyl Amino Acid Ligands in Pd(II)-Catalyzed Remote C–H Activation of Tethered Arenes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 894.
33. Yang, Y.-F.; Cheng, G.-J.#; Liu, P.; Chen, P.; Zhang, X.; Yu, J.-Q.; Wu, Y.-D.; Houk, K. N. Palladium-Catalyzed Meta-Selective C–H Bond Activation with a Nitrile-Containing Template: Computational Study on Mechanism and Origins of Selectivity. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 344. (#co-first author)
34. Cheng, G.-J.; Song, L.-J.; Yang, Y.-F.; Zhang, X.; Wiest, O.; Wu, Y.-D. Computational Studies on the Mechanism of the Copper-Catalyzed sp3-C-H Cross-Dehydrogenative Coupling Reaction. ChemPlusChem 2013, 78, 943 (Frontispiece paper).
35. Zhu, L.; Zhou, C.; Yang, W.; He, S.; Cheng, G.-J.; Zhang, X.; Lee, C.-S. Formal Syntheses of (±)-Platensimycin and (±)-Platencin via a Dual-Mode Lewis Acid Induced Cascade Cyclization Approach. J. Org. Chem. 2013, 78, 7912.
36. Zhao, K.; Cheng, G.-J.; Yang, H.; Shang, H.; Zhang, X.; Wu, Y.-D.; Tang, Y. Total Synthesis of Incarvilleatone and Incarviditone: Insight into Their Biosynthetic Pathways and Structure Determination. Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 4878.
37. Yang, Y.-F.; Cheng, G.-J.; Zhu, J.; Zhang, X.; Inoue, S.; Wu, Y.-D. Silicon-Containing Formal 4pi-Electron Four-Membered Ring Systems: Antiaromatic, Aromatic, or Not? Chem. Eur. J. 2012, 18, 7516.
38. BOOK Cheng, G.-J. “Mechanistic Studies on Transition Metal-Catalyzed C-H Activation Reactions Using Combined Mass Spectrometry and Theoretical Methods” Springer Theses, 2017, ISBN:978-981-10-4520-2.